Creed of The Warrior
by iSoul2099
Summary: A crossover between two Legendary men from different lands
1. Chapter 1

****Hey guys! Sorry that I haven't written anything in awhile I've been busy with school and whatnot, but now everything is settled so I should be able to keep a steady pace with my writing! I see I've gotten some new followers and positive reviews since I last logged on and I just want to say thank you! You guys are awesome, and I hope that I can keep on impressing you guys with what I love to do! Hope you guys enjoy! Not exactly a romance like before, but I hope this one captures your imagination and attention!

**Chapter 1**

Throughout the many lands that were seen, many had their different cultures, architecture, history, and people. But they all had one thing in common; each place that he laid his eyes on shared the same sky, and the same destiny. For one who had ventured to different lands, and even different dimensions of perplexing natures, he was not surprised that this new land he had come across had the same simple breeze. Taking a moment to halt the movement of his steed, he looked up at the sky, closed his eyes, and drifted into thought of his time as a child simply relaxing under a tree, and sleeping while enjoying the breeze that would always gently course through his face.

The man opened his eyes, and signaled his steed to keep moving forward. Eventually, he had come across a large metropolitan city that he had never laid his eyes on before. The architecture of the buildings and their gothic natures left him in awe and confusion. The man couldn't believe where he was, nor did he have the slightest clue of where he was. As his steed moved forward, they eventually reached the gate of the city, guarded by two guards in armor and swords.

"Halt! What business do you have here?" one of the guards said as he signaled the man to stop.

"I am a traveler; I don't know where I am" he replied.

Both of the guards exchanged confused glances at one another, gazing at his steed and the light features that the man possessed. They both kept a fixed look at the stranger, observing him curiously. They had never seen a tunic like the one he wore, and they stared at the man's sword and shield mounted on his back.

"What's your name, boy?" one of the guards asked.

The man stood silent and stared at the guards with a blank expression on his face.

"Are you listening boy? What's your name and what business do you have here?" The guard repeated louder while pulling out his sword in unison with the second guard.

The man still remained silent.

Both guards moved towards the man pointing their swords at him. The man unsheathed his sword and shield simultaneously and flipped backward to gain more distance between the guards and himself. The man's sword gleaned in the light, a light that seemed other-worldly to the two guards. His shield bore a design that seemed very foreign to the guards as they made their own speculations of where he had come from.

The first guard lunged at the man, attempting to stab him, which the man blocked by sidestepping and kicking him in the back of his legs to knock him down and to lose balance. The second guard followed with combinations of parry attacks and wild slashes which were easily blocked by the man. Both guards attempted to surround the man in hopes of overwhelming him with a two against one battle.

The man let out a grunted cry as he kept repelling the guard's attacks, as he knocked them down one by one by causing them to lose their balance and bashing them with his shield to keep them down.

Astonished, the two guards immediately got up, sheathed their weapons and stood in awe of the man.

"You are a very strange man! You unsheathe your weapon with the look to kill, yet you didn't attack us with your sword" the guard exclaimed.

Seemingly content with the situation, the man sheathed his weapon, mounted his horse, and stared at the two men.

"Marcello, let this man through! We have both been outmatched by this foreign swordsman, let him pass through, I do not feel that he is a threat, after all, he didn't kill us when he could have, he has proven his intentions and competence with a sword" the guard urged the other as he signaled the gatekeeper to open the gates of the city.

Lightly whipping the harness of his horse, the man slowly moved forward into the city, however, the guard stopped him by catching up with him and tugged on his tunic.

"Sir, you are a talented swordsman, we must know who you are! Perhaps we could learn from you someday!" the guard asked admiringly.

The man looked over his shoulder with a blank face.

"My name is Link, of Hyrule. Tell me, where am I?" he replied in curiosity.

"Link, it is an honor to meet you. And welcome, my friend, to Florence of Italy" he smiled.

Link saddled Epona to move forward into the city, with no other word given to the two guards that remained at the gate. As he made his way along with Epona, a figure, which appeared to have witnessed the skirmish with the guards, was standing, crossing his arms from afar.

The man smiled through his hood.

"Impressive…"


	2. Chapter 2

****Hey guys! Sorry that my chapters are a little short, I'm working at a good pace so I can make sure things match up and make sense. Thank you for the positive review and I hope I can keep impressing you guys! More will be on the way!

**Chapter 2**

As the hero made his way into the city, he gazed upon the multitude of people that walked across what appeared to him as a large marketplace. People selling and trading many goods, blacksmiths perfecting what appeared as armor and many different tools, and even the occasional beggar, who Link felt pity for. As he made his way to a fountain deeper into the city, he found a spot to tie up Epona, gently pet her long, beautiful mane, and began wondering around the city.

"Excuse me sir, I'm looking for someone, would you help me?" a voice was heard.

The hero turned around quickly, somewhat taken back by the feeling of a gentle hand resting on his shoulder. The man appeared to be in his early twenties, somewhat on the tall side, matching Link in height, he bore a tunic that seemed very strange to Link, and where he came from people had a different sense of fashion.

As Link was about to speak, Navi suddenly appeared out of his hat, circling the stranger.

"Who are you? And what can we do for you? My friend and I are very busy" she exclaimed as she stopped in front of the man's face.

"My goodness! What is this? Are you a demon? An angel? Do my eyes deceive me? The man staggered back.

"What? No! I'm not a demon, I'm a fairy! I travel with Link, we've been friends ever since he was a little boy, we've been through many perilous feats together, and now we're traveling to-it doesn't matter. Who are you?" Navi explained as she made different motions in the air.

"Pardon my manners, allow me to introduce myself, my name is Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, but you may call me Leonardo. Who are you?"

Link itched the back of his head as he looked at Navi, then back to Leonardo, then to the ground.

"I guess I'll deal with the formalities, this is Link, the Hero of Time! I'm Navi the fairy! I come from the Kokiri Forest in the land of Hyrule, and Link is a born Hylian. I'm sorry for the trouble, he's a bit shy, as long as I have known him, he tends to speak through his actions, to my surprise, a lot of women sure do fancy him for that reason" she said as she leaned in closer to Leonardo's ear, hoping the Hero wouldn't hear.

Link smiled lightly, and shook his head in denial, denying anyone fancied him.

Leonardo stood completely perplexed and puzzled.

"I'm sorry but where do you come from again? I've never heard of these lands you speak of, are you from France, or perhaps Germany? Your light features tell me you come from the north!" the man said as he studied Link with his unusual green tunic.

"Germany? France? What are you talking about? We come from Hyrule! Something doesn't seem quite right here, we don't seem to be on the same page" she said as she made her way back to Link.

Link looked around and noticed that a small crowd of people were beginning to encircle him and Leonardo as they all caught sight of him with his tunic as well as Navi hovering over Link. Navi immediately took notice to this, and quickly flew back into Link's hat. He did not know how to react; Link could only look around at the crowd of people, and only feel sheepish and clueless of what to make of the situation.

"Oh my, perhaps we should talk in private, come my friend, we shall go to my abode and we shall talk, I am very curious to learn more about you and this land of, how you say, Hyrule?" Leonardo suggested as he quickly grabbed Link by his shoulder, urging him to make haste before the crowd of people became even bigger and unruly.

Noticing the crowd talking amongst themselves, with no hesitation, Link scurried with Leonardo through the crowd, avoiding any contact of any sort with the townspeople.

As the townspeople took great notice to the Hero, a man perched atop a nearby rooftop witnessed the young hero make his way with his dear friend Leonardo. Perched in his legendary stance, with the wind blowing gently which cascaded through his hood which resembled that of an eagle, he arose and kept his eyes on Link.

" Questo potrebbe essere un Templare?" (Could this be a Templar?)

The man arose slowly, and made his way across the rooftops of Florence with his agile movements, and clever maneuvers, keeping a close eye on The Hero of Time.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As Link and Leonardo finally reached his abode, he felt like he could finally let his breath release. He stood leaning against a wall, and slowly let his body fall to the ground and sat on the floor. As he let his eyes wander around, he could not believe what he was seeing. The room that he was looking at had many shelves of books, tables set in the corner with many maps and what appeared to be blueprints for ideas. He also caught the sight of various inventions throughout the room, some unfinished, and some completed. The Hero simply couldn't comprehend what he was gazing at; many brilliant inventions in a small, cozy room, in a colossal metropolitan city that he never knew existed. He had seen many different places, even dimensions with obscure natures and monsters with horrifying statures, yet the sight of a new world seemed to escape his mental capability.

Navi suddenly flew out of Link's hat and began exploring the room that they both sat in. Link let out a small chuckle observing Navi fly from one object to the next, and with each new object she saw, the more confused and lost she had became. Leonardo finally returned with two cups of hot tea, and beckoned the Hero to sit in a chair at the table.

"Please, come sit my friend, I apologize for the mess, I need a better place for these" he sheepishly said as he quickly removed maps and blue prints off the table.

The Hero quietly sat down with Navi positioning herself next to Link as per usual.

"So please, tell me more about who you are and where you come from! I've never heard of this land of Hyrule that you spoke of, and I've never seen young men walking around with fairies. Are you from another world, perhaps another era of time?" The young inventor said with much fascination in his eyes as he took a sip of tea.

The Hero quietly took a sip of tea and gave a light smile toward Leonardo.

"Well, Leonardo, to be honest, what I see around me, is very similar to our homeland of Hyrule. Unfortunately I can't give you an answer to your question because no one where we come from keeps record of the time, time seems to flow endlessly, day quickly turning to the night, and night giving birth to the day" Navi said before Link could open his mouth and mutter a word.

"Oh my, no one keeps record of the time? Does time flow differently where you come from?"

"Well, I can't say for sure, but it seems in this land of Florence, time seems to flow with a steadier pace, people rushing to be in different areas as the time dictates. That doesn't happen in Hyrule, people move about all the time, with no constraints of time" Navi replied.

Silence.

"So how does one keep track of day to day activities, if the different sides of time occur with no warning?" Leonardo asked, leaning over the table to await the fairy's response.

"Well, this may sound strange, but there's a reason why Link is called the Hero of Time where we come from. Link has a very special instrument; it's called the Ocarina of Time. It was given to him by Princess Zelda, the princess of our land. It has very mysterious power when the notes are played. Link has a song that can accelerate the flow of time, slow it down, and even halt it to some degree. During our adventures together, there would be situations where it would be necessary to alter the flow of time" Navi explained.

Link silently rummaged through his pockets, and handed the Ocarina to Leonardo to see for himself. The young inventor took the instrument and studied it very carefully.

"Bless my soul! In all my years, I have never rested my eyes on such a divine instrument! I've never heard of such an instrument! This is incredible! Surely my luck today has been blessed by the Almighty!" he exclaimed as he viewed the ocarina in its entirety.

"There's also another reason why Link is referred to as the Hero of Time" Navi said as she moved closer to Leonardo.

Without any hesitation, the Hero slowly pulled out his legendary blade, the Master Sword.

Leonardo simply could not believe what he was looking at. The handle of the blade had a smooth coat of what appeared as blue and purple to him, wrapped with green inline into the handle. The beautiful sheen of the blade shone more than the largest diamond and an intricate design on one side of the blade underneath the hand guard. The young inventor simply had no words or thoughts that could properly articulate his astonishment of the young Hero's equipment.

"Never in my years have I seen such a blade! This looks sharper than a blade I had crafted for a dear friend of mine, this looks like it can pierce anything! Please, may I hold it?" he asked with amazement.

At first the Hero seemed hesitant to give his weapon which never left his person to a stranger, but he smiled, and handed it to Leonardo.

"I must say, it is heavier than it appears! How do you wield this weapon with such efficiency and elegance in battle?" He said as he moved the blade slowly in different directions.

"This is called the Master Sword. It's a legendary blade that no evil one may touch, and only one who is worthy to be called the Hero of Time can wield this sword. As Link pulled this sword from its pedestal, time suddenly moved forward seven years, because Link was only a young child when he removed the sword, because of that, Link was deemed too young to be called the Hero of Time, so his body and soul was trapped in the Temple of Time until he was of age to be called the Hero of Time" Navi explained further.

Before Leonardo could move it again, the Master Sword suddenly disappeared from his hands, and instantly re-appeared to Link's sheath.

"As I said, only the Hero of Time can wield this weapon. Although you aren't evil, the blade can't remain in the hands of another unworthy to be called the Hero of Time" Navi said as she giggled at Leonardo's reaction to the disappearance of the blade.

"I must say, my mind has never had this much difficulty processing what I am seeing. This is truly incredible; never in the course of my life would I have ever dreamed that other world's existed, and such mysterious things surrounding them! But what I must ask, is what brings you to Italy?" Leonardo said as he sipped more of his tea.

Link and Navi both exchanged glances at one another, then back to Leonardo.

"A great evil" Navi replied after the silence.

"Evil? Where? I don't understand, if you're looking for evil, I assure you, you won't find it here" Leonardo replied.

"There was a period of time where dark, opaque clouds surrounded the skies of Hyrule. Many disasters and death followed. These evil omens and great despair was caused by a sorcerer wielding a weapon with great power and destruction. Princess Zelda called us to find the source of these disasters, and we found that the sorcerer appeared from another world, wreaking havoc in his way" Navi said with fear in her voice.

"What happened afterwards? Was the sorcerer brought to justice?" Leonardo asked.

"We both found him, and Link took him on in a battle one on one, and defeated him. But something went very wrong. As Link defeated the sorcerer, and it turned out that the sorcerer was possessed by an evil, malicious force that inhabited the sword that he was wielding. As he was defeated, Link attempted to shatter the weapon, only to have a terrifying, ugly monster arise from the weapon, and began shrieking demonically. As the beast disappeared, the blade shattered into many different shards, and vanished. All but one of these shards remained, which Link possesses" Navi said coldly.

Link took out the shard that Navi spoke of and showed it to Leonardo.

"I don't understand, why would a sword shatter into pieces? That doesn't sound like something a normal sword would do?" he said as he examined the glowing shard carefully, avoiding its touch.

"Because this is something very evil and wicked, something far more wicked than we've ever seen. Link and I are traveling to find the shards of this sword, and destroy them to prevent them from causing havoc upon other lands. The only thing we know about this weapon is its name, the sorcerer mentioned the name of this wicked blade before he passed on" Navi said.

Leonardo leaned in closer than before, darkly awaiting the answer the fairy had.

Before anything could be said, a man suddenly revealed himself in the room from above, and suddenly jumped down, and landed near Link.

"Dammi quel frammento o ti uccido Templare!" (Give me that shard or I will kill you Templar) the man said as he very swiftly unsheathed his sword, and aimed it directly at Link's throat.

"Oh my goodness, what are you doing my friend? This young man is not a Templar, he comes from another world! And I'm very confident he doesn't speak our tongue, in fact, he hasn't spoken a word since he arrived here" Leonardo said as he beckoned the man to lower his weapon.

"I do not care where he comes from, that shard is the incarnation of the devil and must be destroyed! I fought men that carried a shard like this and their bodies were consumed by fire and re-appeared as monsters! Do not test me, give me that shard or I will kill you" the man said as he pressed the blade against Link's throat.

As Link gave the allusion that he would give the shard to the man, he quickly unsheathed his weapons, and back-sprinted to gain distance from the two of them.

"Leonardo, get back" Link said as he calmly observed his opponent in his entirety.

The man's stance suddenly changed. He sheathed his weapon, and crossed both arms across his chest, and stared at Link like a hawk awaiting to swoop in for its prey.

"I witnessed your battle with the guards at the gate, do not think you will defeat me with tricks and swift movement such as yours" the man said as he quickly dashed forward and simultaneously revealed two hidden blades underneath his gauntlets in his sleeves.

The man attempted to stab Link, while trying to cut Link in a horizontal manner, only to have one blade repelled by his shield, and the other eluded by moving his head. As Link kept his shield up, the man used his shield as a wall, and took two steps on his shield, and attempted to slash Link from above. He quickly rolled out of the way, and let out his usual grunted cry.

"You move like a fox, swift and resourceful, but you will not claim this victory" he said as he sheathed his hidden blades, and unsheathed his sword, taking his legendary stance.

The Hero and mysterious man began clashing blades, with a rhythm that seemed very mesmerizing, as both men were very skilled in the art of the sword. Link's movements were very bold and acrobatic, while the man's movements were very precise and direct. Both could not seem to disarm or land a blow on the other. As the man swung his sword, Link flipped backward, and swiftly pulled out his Hookshot, and pulled the man's sword out of his grip, and took possession of it.

The man stood somewhat surprised at the sight of such a contraption that he had never seen before. Nevertheless, he did not panic, but simply smiled.

Without any hesitation, the man revealed a small contraption within his sleeve. The contraption seemed small and intricate and very foreign to Link.

"Do not fear the darkness, but accept its embrace" the man said before he activated his weapon.

"Link, watch out! Use the power of the goddesses!" Navi cried out.

Link quickly cupped both hands to his side, then raised them above his head, then slammed both hands on the ground.

Suddenly, a loud, penetrating noise was heard that echoed in the room. It perforated everyone's ears as the sound was very loud in an enclosed space. The man smiled as a small blanket of smoke filled the room, presuming the Hero to be dead. Navi could not make any sense of what had happened, as she began trembling, unable to move.

"Link! Please say something!" Navi called out in the room, hoping he remained.

Silence.

Sorry guys, gotta keep my readers in suspense! Don't worry, Chapter 4 is on it's way ;)


	4. Chapter 4

****Hey guys! Sorry that this chapter took me a little longer than usual, I had a lot of tests to study for and plus I wanted to make sure the story made sense and looked good enough to show you guys! More will be on the way! Don't forget to hit the review button!

**Chapter 4**

As the smoke shrouded the room from the man's weapon, he began to grin. Navi still remained frozen and unable to move due to the magnitude of the sound that was emitted from the man's weapon. Leonardo began coughing lightly and attempted to rid the smoke from the room by waving his arms back and forth with a fan motion.

Satisfied with the turn of the battle, the man sheathed his weapons and crossed his arms.

"Requiescat In Pace" the man said in a low tone.

Suddenly, as the smoke cleared, the man took notice, and his expressions instantly disappeared and were replaced with pure astonishment. He simply could not believe what he was looking at.

The Hero of Time stood standing with the shield of Nayru's Love surrounding him, smiling.

"I'm not sure if Leonardo's words weren't clear, but I don't speak your tongue" the Hero said as crossed his arms, grinning at the man.

"What is this? Where did that blue aura of energy come from? It must be some sort of trick!" he replied with frustration.

"My friends, you both are very talented warriors, please, there is no need to fight. Besides, I can't have you two commencing in a full out battle, my home will be destroyed!" Leonardo said as he stepped in between both warriors and beckoned them to stand down.

Link made a motion with his hand that dispelled his shield, while the man stepped back.

"You are truly a strange warrior, I've fought many men in my life, never have I seen one with skills such as yours. Who are you?" the man said as he walked toward the Hero.

"Excuse me; you attacked us out of nowhere! Who are you?" Navi said as she got up in the man's face, flying around him to express her anger and frustration.

"What is this? Are you a spirit of some nature?" the man said as he fixed his gaze on Navi.

"Her name is Navi, my friend. She travels with this young man here on many adventures of mysterious nature! She is his companion, like you have your brothers in the deadly arts" Leonardo said, clarifying things.

"I see, forgive me young man, I mistook you for a Templar, and when you pulled out that shard, I was sure you would burst into flames, becoming a monster and destroying everyone here, including Leonardo." The man said as he looked at his dear friend, hoping he would understand his motives.

"Who are you? I've never seen clever weapons like you wield, especially that loud one" Navi asked.

"I am the Head of the Brotherhood; I fight against the Templars that murdered my family before my very eyes. I am Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, I am an Assassin" he said as he removed his hood, revealing the face of a man older than Link.

"It's a somewhat pleasure to meet you, considering you attacked us. My name is Navi the fairy, and this is the Hero of Time, Link" Navi said as she flew back to Link's shoulder.

Ezio made his way toward Link, smiled lightly, and raised his hand.

"It is an honor to meet you, my friend" Ezio said.

The Hero looked at Ezio, then his hand, and shook his hand, matching his firm grip.

"Tell me, my friends, why do you carry that evil shard with you? Are you unaware of what it can do to man?" the assassin asked while crossing his arms.

"We came from our land of Hyrule to find the other shards and destroy them. We can't allow other lands to suffer the same fate that our land has endured for a time. Link seems to be the only one that can hold this shard without being corrupted by the powers of darkness this shard possesses" Navi said.

"It is strange; I have come across warriors with shards like these, and after their defeat, the shard disappeared. Together, what do these shards do?" Ezio asked.

"Together they take on the form of a sword with great power; Power that can destroy lands and rips them apart, and inflicts them with disasters and death. The name of this weapon we have come to destroy is called Soul Edge" Navi explained.

As the group sat down at the table, Navi explained where they had come from, and the many mysteries that surrounded the two of them.

"Incredible, you both hail from a land with a different flow of time, people, and culture. I never would have fathomed such things existed, perhaps only in literature" Ezio said while sipping tea.

"And you two are here to find these fragments of an evil weapon called 'Soul Edge'?" Leonardo questioned.

"Yes, that is correct. Now I fear this land of Italy may be in great danger. Ezio mentioned earlier that he has fought men that possessed these shards and turned into monsters. I have a very bad feeling that the shards are gathering here, and once they form Soul Edge, there's no telling who will take the hilt of that weapon and what their motives are" Navi said coldly.

Everyone sitting at the table began exchanging glances at one another, hoping the other would have a clue of the matter, but all remained clueless.

"Well, the best thing we can do is keep moving and hope we come across more shards, and destroy them" Navi said, breaking the spell of silence.

"It appears our goals are on in the same, Ezio, you should accompany Link and Navi and locate these shards before disaster occurs" Leonardo suggested.

"Perhaps, but I do not know where to begin our search, these shards can be anywhere" Ezio said.

Before anyone could say anything, a wild banging noise was heard on Leonardo's door.

Leonardo quickly bolted from his chair and opened the door to see who had been knocking.

"Leonardo! You must make haste! The city is being overrun!" a man said, panicking.

"Overrun? By whom? What are you talking about?" Leonardo questioned.

"The city of Florence is being overrun with monsters! The guards of the city are barely able to hold their own against them! They came like a flare from the sun and will run straight through this place! Please find shelter my friend!" the man said, with his face pale from fear.

"Come inside my friend, there is a place in the basement that can act as a shelter from the onslaught, hurry and gather other survivors and bring them here. Ezio, Link, you must go outside and find out what these monsters want and why they are here. Make haste!" Leonardo said as he beckoned the man to find survivors.

The Hero and Assassin quickly got up, looked at one another in the eye, and nodded their heads.

"Follow me, there's a passage that leads to the rooftops, we can get a better view of what is happening outside. Can you keep up with me, little fox?" Ezio said grinning at Link.

The Hero nodded his head.

The Hero and the Assassin scaled the hidden passage that lead to the rooftops. Ezio quickly scaled the window panes and wooden beams that obtruded from the buildngs, with Link following very closely behind Ezio. As the two made their way to a building with metal beams, both moved forward, and knelt down in stance to observe what was happening. The two men could not believe their eyes, many monsters were running through the streets, destroying stores and stands alike, and harming other people as they ran through with their physical stature being more immense and gruesome than the average human. Suddenly, something caught Ezio's attention; he noticed behind the horde of monsters, a man was walking directly behind them. The man wore dark blue armor, with a strand of red fabric obtruding from the helmet. One arm was covered in armor, the other appeared to be the hand of a monster, as it dwarfed the size of his other arm.

"Link, look at that armored man, do you seem him? He appears to be leading these monsters! These are the monsters I have fought whom possessed fragments of Soul Edge" Ezio said, pointing out the armored man to Link.

The Hero took notice of this, intensifying his expressions.

"We have to go down there and stop these monsters! We can't let this land endure what Hyrule has been through!" Navi exclaimed with fury in her voice.

Ezio swiftly began scaling down the building they were perched on, with Link following close behind him. As the two made their way to the streets, they began trailing the armored man's footsteps, remaining undetected, to find out what it is he wanted. As the man raised his demonic arm, two monsters came toward the man, which urged Ezio and Link to take cover behind a group of barrels.

"Have you located that which I required?" the armored man said in a voice that was gruesome and dark.

The beasts let out different levels of growls and grunts as the man asked.

"Keep looking you useless creatures! I will find these shards and resurrect my weapon, and show all, the greatest nightmare" the man said as he began laughing in a dark manner.

"So Soul Edge must belong to him! We must stop him before he can find these shards" Navi whispered in Link's ear from his hat.

As the armored man began walking along, Ezio caught Link's attention.

"We must take care of these monsters before they can harm anyone else, once these beasts are vanquished, we can then apprehend the man in armor" Ezio said.

As Link nodded his head, both men swiftly got up and ran another direction. With both swords in each man's hand, and the fire of determination in both men's eyes, they both made of to hunt down and destroy every monster that began walking around Florence.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

As both men swiftly ran through the narrow passages of Florence, each man stuck side by side, with both swords firmly grasped and their determination higher than the heavens. As the Hero and the Assassin came across monsters that were relentlessly destroying walls, stores, and about to harm people, Link ran in and thrust his blade through the monster's back, as Ezio ran up and thrust his hidden blades through the back of the other monster's neck and kicked it's body to rid it away from him.

"Link, we need to split up, at our pace, we will never slay these beasts in time. We must find survivors and find that armored man" Ezio said as he sheathed his hidden blades.

"Link, listen, we need to do as he says, if we split up it will be more convenient and easier to destroy these monsters" Navi beckoned Link as she started flying in different directions in his face to get his attention.

Without any hesitation, both men split up, with Ezio swiftly scaling a building, until he was seen no more. Link began running forward, and spotted a group of monsters, easily outnumbering the Hero. Link quickly rummaged through his pockets and took out a bomb, lit it on fire, and tossed it in the middle of the horde of monsters, and quickly took cover.

As Link took cover behind a building corner, the bomb suddenly went off, and sent everything in its explosive vicinity flying everywhere, with the monsters dissipating instantly.

"Link! Why did you do that?! You're going to attract more of those monsters and you'll be outnumbered!" Navi exclaimed.

The Hero looked at his companion, and let out a clever grin.

"Wait a minute, you wanted that to happen! You let off that explosion so the monsters and hopefully that man and the monsters will follow the sound of that explosion and come to you!" she said.

"That's the idea" Link said as he smiled cleverly.

The Hero quickly got up, and continued running again, advancing his movements through the city. As he was moving, he saw a group of people huddled behind a wall that led to an alleyway.

"Hey, the monsters are gone from this area, there's a safe house in Leonardo DaVinci's house, go there and take shelter!" Link said as he offered his hand to the young children and one young woman that were hiding, shaken with fear.

The Hero began taking each child one by one over the wall, and took the young woman over the wall, and placed her with the children. The young woman's appearance somewhat seemed familiar to Link. The young woman had long blonde hair, light green eyes, and similar facial features to Princess Zelda back in Hyrule. As Link got a full view of her face, he began to blush a little, thinking of how much she looked like Princess Zelda.

"Grazie per averci salvati, fare attenzione!" (Thank you for saving us, be careful) the woman said.

Before the woman ran with the children, she quickly kissed Link's cheek, smiled, and ran off with the children.

The Hero blushed, and smiled lightly, always being the quiet one that always offered his help, and never asked for something in return. A simple gesture such as a kiss was one that was more than enough for the Hero, and made him feel empowered for being the one blessed with the Triforce shard of Courage.

"Link, this isn't the time to lose focus! We need to hurry and save these people!" Navi said, continuously slamming herself against Link's head to get his attention.

Link shook his head, and quickly got up. He quickly turned around, prepared to run in the other direction, only to run into something with heavy mass that made Link fall back down again.

"It will rain blood today" a gruesome voice was heard.

The Hero suddenly rolled backwards, and thrusts himself back up to see what he had run into. His eyes widened at the sight of the armored man standing in Link's way, holding what appeared as an enormous broadsword, with a very sharp blade, with what seemed to be flesh around the rest of the blade, as if the blade was growing from the man's hand. Suddenly, a huge, red eye opened on the side of the man's blade, and looked in different directions, then gazed menacingly at Link.

"I need more souls…your soul will do just fine" the man said as he placed the blade on his shoulder, as he slowly walked towards Link.

Link gazed at the man, trying to find a place that he could exploit to his advantage, but could not find anything, as he was covered in full armor.

"Don't think I didn't see you and your little friend lingering above the roof like a bunch of rats. I will kill you, and then I will kill him and steal both of your souls!" the man said as he got closer to Link and raised his giant blade.

"Link, run!" Navi yelled

As the man violently swung his blade down, Link quickly parried the attack, causing the man to lose his balance, and kicked him in his back to make him fall down. The armored man quickly got up, and ran towards Link, and grabbed him by his neck with his giant, demonic arm, and lifted him up.

"With your power, I will resurrect my weapon" the man said as he tightened his grip, and as a purple aura appeared around the man's arm, draining Link's energy little by little.

"Back to hell with you!" Ezio suddenly yelled as he jumped behind the man from a large building, and with all his weight landed on the man, releasing Link from his deadly grasp.

The Assassin quickly pulled Link up, regaining his focus, and both men drew their blades.

"Another soul, my goal will be met today" the man smiled as he removed his helmet, crushed it with his demonic arm, and threw it aside.

The man appeared to be in his mid-twenties, with a scar starting from his eyebrow that protruded down his cheek. He had long, silky blonde hair that reached down farther than his shoulders, and beneath his hair, were piercing crimson eyes. As the man smiled, the two men noticed that he had somewhat sharp fangs on the four corners of his mouth where an average human had canine teeth.

"So you are the source of these monsters and the destruction that has been caused. I will kill you and send you back to the depths of hell" Ezio said as he pulled out his sword, and got into his stance in unison with Link.

The man let out a roar as he changed his stance, and grasped his sword with both hands as a purple aura surrounded the man.

"Link, are you ready?" Ezio asked as he intensified his expression.

Without a moments delay, both men charged toward the armored man, bringing their swords down in a horizontal manner, only to be stopped with the man's sword. Both men began elegantly and simultaneously clashing blades with the armored man, matching each other in perfect unison, piggybacking off the other's movements of the sword. However, both men could not break through the armored man's defenses with his combinations of blocking with his giant, demonic arm, and deflecting both blades with his more superior sized blade.

As the man violently swung his blade down, it pierced the ground with an earth shaking motion, which caused Link and Ezio to fall down.

"Who is this man? He shook the ground with his blade, and he seems to have a lot of power! Where could he be getting his strength from?" Ezio muttered to himself.

"We need to take him out fast before he destroys the city!" Navi said to Link.

The armored man raised both hands in the air while holding his sword, and looked up at the sky.

"Souls, come unto me!" the man yelled as the purple aura grew even brighter and stronger.

As the aura grew brighter, the ground began to shake a little, which began to really worry the Hero and the Assassin. Ezio quickly loaded his firearm and Link placed a few arrows on his bow, and both men simultaneously shot their projectiles at the man, but the arrows and bullets bounced off the aura with ease.

"It's no use! Link we need to do something fast! He's growing stronger by the second! What can we do?" Navi screamed over the shaking of the ground and the loud tremors.

At the blink of an eye, the man's aura suddenly disappeared and he was on the floor, grunting. Link could not make any sense of what just happened, and Navi tried looking around to see what just happened. As Link turned back around, Ezio was looking at a young man that was standing near the armored man with a pair of nunchaku, in a stance that seemed odd to Ezio and Link. The man had dark features and a tough, masculine face with eyes that have seen perhaps over one thousand battles. His tunic seemed very strange to the two men that were looking at him, and have never seen a weapon that he wielded.

The man let out a battle cry and switched his stance with his weapon.

"Do you remember me?" the man said to the armored figure on the ground.

Before anything could be said, the armored man suddenly arose, and clobbered the newcomer with his demonic arm, sending him back near Link and Ezio's feet. The man lifted up his arm and looked at the three men.

"Do not think you have defeated me. If you really want to defeat me, come to the top of the Holy City of the Vatican, and we will finish this" the man said as he stepped through what appeared to be a portal that grew darker and darker the further one would look into it.

As the man disappeared, Ezio grabbed the newcomer by his arm, and looked him in the eye.

"Who are you? And how do you know that man?" he pointed his hidden blade at his throat.

"I am Maxi, and that man is named Siegfried, or at least that was who he used to be" the man calmly said.

"Tell me everything you know about that man or I will kill you" Ezio said, putting pressure on the blade that was at Maxi's throat.

"The man that you saw was once called Siegfried Schtauffen. The weapon that you both saw was Soul Edge, but, in its current form, the weapon is incomplete. The weapon has a mind of its own; it has the power to drive men insane. If one cannot fight the presence within the weapon, it takes control over the wielder's mind, and makes the body do its bidding. The entity possessing Siegfried now introduces himself as Nightmare" Maxi explained, as he gently pushed away Ezio's hidden blade.

"Why is this man asking to meet him at the Vatican, what is he planning" Ezio asked pushing the blade back to Maxi's throat.

"The entity inside the blade needs souls to become complete again, thus, Nightmare is going around hunting down souls to make himself and the weapon stronger, and to gather fragments that were lost, to finally complete the weapon, the true form of Soul Edge" he explained.

"Take us to this man, he has destroyed much of this city with his horde of monsters, and because of that demonic weapon, Link's land of Hyrule was ravaged by a man that wielded that weapon. You will take us to him before anything more can happen" Ezio demanded.

"Our goals are one in the same; I come from a land in the east to rid the world of that weapon. My entire crew was slain by the very same monsters that ran through this town. I followed you two through the city, but I revealed myself until now because I needed to know what your intentions were" he said back.

The men looked at one another, seeing as the three men came from different lands, they all appeared very foreign and strange to one another.

"I am Ezio Auditore Da Firenze, and this is Link, he hails from the land of Hyrule" Ezio said as he reached for Maxi's hand.

Maxi quickly matched Ezio's firm grip with a stern look about his face.

"We must destroy this weapon once and for all, and rid the world of Nightmare" Link said bluntly.

As the three men began to walk together to head for the Vatican, Maxi's steps suddenly stopped.

"Wait; there is something I must know. Where is Hyrule, I have never heard of such a land" Maxi said with a puzzled look on his face.

Link snickered lightly as Ezio firmly grabbed Maxi by his shoulder.

"Do not worry about such things, we must make haste, quickly" he said as he tugged Maxi to follow along.

The three men ran forward, headed straight for the Holy City of the Vatican.


End file.
